When the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, a majority of its buildings were completed destroyed. With landscapes demolished, soils charred and radiation rampant, Dr. Harold Jacobsen, a scientist from the Manhattan Project, told the Washington Post Hiroshima “will be barren of life and nothing will grow for 75 years.”

Chinese Parasol trees (aka Phoenix Trees) about 1300 meters from hypocenter, had no major structures between them and the blast. They were hit hard. They lost all of their branches and their trunks were hallowed out and burned on the side facing the blast. They were assumed, and understandably so, to be dead. But the very next spring, new leaves budded.

Some trees provide us with shelter. Some trees provide us with food. The Chinese Parasol trees provided the citizens of Hiroshima with something else they desperately needed.

Seeing this new life, people dazed by the tumultuous aftermath of the atomic bombing and the war took courage.

[…] spring, trees budded. This month on TGAW, I covered the stories of two A-bomb survivors– the Phoenix Trees in Hiroshima and the Sanno Shrine Camphor Trees in Nagasaki. Hiroshi Sunairi of Tree Project has organized a […]

I wish I hadn’t been late to your “Survivor Trees” Festival. Very nice compilation. I will be mentioning your blog at a presentation I am giving at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this week, entitled “Trees and Rebirth: Ritual and Symbol in Community-based Urban Reforestation Recovery Efforts in Post-Katrina New Orleans.”